Saturday, April 1, 2017

Students Interview Aaron Reynolds

Perhaps you’ve noticed I
haven’t been posting for a while. There is an exciting reason!
Two other speech
therapist and I are starting a new business, SpeechFix, providing literature
based material for home and school. That is
taking up a large chunk of my “free” time but it is well worth it. Our first
project will be a package of activities to accompany the book, Creepy Carrots! by Aaron Reynolds.

It was a natural
choice since the book is already a favorite with my students. And since it is such a favorite, we decided to
request an interview with Mr. Reynolds. Lucky for us, he readily agreed!

Welcome, Mr. Reynolds. My students and I
love your books and Creepy Carrots! is one of our favorites. We’d all like to
know, what inspired you to write this story?

I love getting
creeped out and did when I was a kid. So much so, that I used to watch a TV
show called The Twilight Zone every Saturday night. I loved it because it was
creepy, but not terrifying. Spooky, but also kind of funny sometimes. I decided
one day that I wanted to write a picture book that was like an episode of The
Twilight Zone. That idea became Creepy Carrots!

Student questions:

Jackie: How did you make all those words
in the book? (She is hoping to make her own creepy story where a rabbit family
turns into creepy carrots.)

Aaron: I write all my
stories with pen and paper, rather than computer. I find that a computer is too
distracting when I'm trying to develop a story. Pen and paper also frees me to
be messy, which is an important part of writing!

Brooklyn: Why didn’t the carrots just
talk to Jasper? Maybe then he would stop eating them. (She is quite a diplomat
in her Kindergarten class.)

Aaron:There was
something much creepier about the carrots never speaking. Just that mysterious
tunk-tunk-tunk that let you know they were coming.

Jose: How did the carrots get out of the
ground to follow Jasper?

Aaron:Anything is
possible in a picture book!

Sierra: How did you make this book?

Aaron:Once I had the
essence of a story, I began to put the story together into words. As the story
took shape, I often went back to cross things out and change them to better
things. I did this until the story was my very best work.

Bella: Can you write a next story about
Jasper and the carrots?

There is another
adventure for Jasper coming this fall! A brand new book! But this sequel has no
carrots in it. It is called CREEPY PAIR OF UNDERWEAR!

That sounds fabulous – my students can
hardly wait to read it!

Eleanor: Can you make an even creepier
book about Jasper?

Aaron:You may find
CREEPY PAIR OF UNDERWEAR! to be just as creepy, if not creepier than CREEPY
CARROTS!

Aaron:Spelling is a
big part of being a writer. Thankfully, I also have a tool called SpellCheck to
help me out once in a while.

Azul: Why did, when his parents looked at
what Jaspar saw, they weren’t there?

Aaron:I wanted you to
wonder...is Jasper really seeing Creepy Carrots? Or is it in his imagination?
How come nobody else sees them?

You certainly accomplished that! My
students had some great discussions on the imagination vs. reality aspect of
this story.

Alexander: How did the carrots transform
so quickly into other stuff?

Aaron:I never imagined
that the carrots were turning into those things. Either Jasper's imagination is
running away with him, or the carrots are trying to make him think that he's
losing his mind. Which is maybe creepier than the carrots actually being there!

Autumn: Do you like carrots?

Aaron:Carrots are
okay. They are a good source of beta carotene!

Melody: Do you like rabbits?

Aaron:Rabbits make
great easily spooked out characters.

Eleanor: Does Jasper ever eat anything
other than carrots?

Aaron:Not that we know
of. Perhaps he should try canned carrots, though I can think of ways to make
those creepy too.

Azul: When is your next story coming out?

Aaron:April 24th! I
have a brand new picture book coming out called SEA MONKEY & BOB!

We’ll
be looking for it! Thank you for inspiring these young scholars and
for taking the time to answer their questions.

Below, you'll see artwork that accompanied student stories. From a tale of a Peaceful Pickle to one of Creepy, Sleepy, Sweet Peas - we had some riveting tales!

About Me

I am a licensed speech-language pathologist and have worked in this field for over thirty years. For the last twenty years, I’ve been employed in public schools. Previous to that, I worked in speech clinics in California, Alaska and Guam. During my clinical years, I provided in-home speech therapy and parent education to children 0-3 and their families. I authored Talking Time, a book of speech and language activities for young children.
I am also a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and write stories for children.